Wednesday, April 9, 2014

They Thought We Were Cute, General Conference, & Just Coasting Along

Me, Dan, and Scott. Dan is out, Scott is straight. The others present (not pictured) are either deeply in the closet or out to select people.

So I walk into a hip college hangout dessert place, The Chocolate, with a bunch of guys. All of us gay (except one, but whatever), and all of us Mormon, living the standards of the Church. We regularly find ourselves out and about eating dinner, eating dessert, going running, playing racquetball, and the suchlike. As we were walking in we passed a group of girls who were headed out. One of them said, "Hey look, a group of just guys! Are you really just a group of guys? That's so awesome!" Scott indirectly responded, chuckling, "If you only knew." The girls proceeded to walk passed us where I followed in the rear of my group of friends. Just as I was passing the last girl in their group I muttered, "We're all gay." A slow, yet steady laughter began to grow within them. "That's even cuter!" yelled one of the girls.

I always get a kick out of that sort of thing.

I just ran the Hollywood Half-Marathon this past Saturday. It was epic. I ran really well, the weather was beautiful, and Hollywood was actually peaceful with all of the roads closed. The race started at 6:00 am, so my sister Jolie and I woke up at 2:45 am hahaha! After the race we walked around a bit, went to Ripley's Believe it or Not, and then we went home and watched General Conference! Could the day have gotten any better?! I love my random getaways to California to run races with my sister. It's like the best bonding ever.

Watching General Conference after the Hollywood-Half Marathon

Watching General Conference was bliss. The weather called for the doors and windows to be open, allowing the cute dogs to run to and fro. Being sore after a race one just wants to lay on a bed, so we did, all while watching general conference.

Elder Anderson has already been a hero of mine. He reaffirmed that this conference. We regularly are reminded of the church opposing gay marriage (and I stand by that), but what about those of us who are are gay and living faithfully? Elder Anderson gives us shout outs more than anyone else :)

The race began at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
Here I am giving you some Asian peace.

My race time was 1 hour 32 minutes 40 seconds, so my average pace was 7:04. It's my second fastest half-marathon time. I run with negative splits, so my mile time gets faster and faster as the race goes on. Maybe it was the elevation change, but I was passing people the entire race. I was pleasantly surprised.

This was after the race, so we were a bit tired.

Jolie and I became plumbers for a day. We had to make two trips to Home Depot and watch YouTube tutorials. Because Jolie lives in a guest house, we had to coordinate when we could turn off the house's water so that we didn't bother the people living in the main part of the house. Jolie and I aren't very strong, so we had to call over Jolie's fun home teacher Pedro to help us crank something. He did it instantly. We laughed. In the end Jolie could use her small dishwasher again. Hooray!

Well, I'm kind of just coasting through my last bit of school; just jumping through some last hoops. I'm enjoying this last bit of time in Utah, though I'm very excited to begin this next chapter of my life. What's in store? What's in store? I've never known, and that keeps things interesting.